President Bush's efforts to overhaul regulation of the government-sponsored enterprises, eliminate estate taxes, and permanently reduce dividend, capital gains, and other taxes have been diverted by Hurricane Katrina recovery, a top administration official acknowledged for the first time Tuesday.
"I think it will push to the back burner some issues that otherwise would have been on the agenda now - estate tax, tax [cut] permanency, and GSE, and some other things" the financial industry has been pushing for, Treasury Secretary John Snow said.
"It is amazing how" the federal government's focus on the shattered Gulf Coast "has taken over the national agenda, and I think it will for a while," Mr. Snow said in a speech to the National Association of Federal Credit Unions.
Rep. Michael G. Oxley, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also addressed the trade group. He was decidedly less upbeat about prospects for GSE reform legislation than last week, when he announced that the House would vote this week on his controversial bill.
Asked by reporters if or when the vote will be scheduled, the Ohio Republican said, "I don't make predictions."
